Guidelines for an expected pregancy
by Spitfire1017
Summary: Collaboration with Threaded Needles. Some things just... happen. Jaime kind of wishes it wasn't accidentally knocking up his fiancé (Wonder Woman's partner!), especially since she has horrid mood swings and the scarab continuously expresses his opinion on the matter. Jaime/Cassie.
1. Chapter 1

_Guidelines for an Unplanned Pregnancy_

_Written by: Spitfire1017 & Threaded Needles_

* * *

He's surprised that she's in a good mood. Not that she isn't always in one, but he's been gone about thirty-eight hours with Robin, Impulse, Superboy and Miss. Martian, so he figures she's going to be ignoring him and making him sleep in a different bedroom.

But no, she's amazing and in a wonderfully chipper mood and the windows are fogged over with the steam from cooking.

"Good morning," She said, standing on her tiptoes to kiss his cheek.

Normally he'd tell her that she looked pretty or give her a long hug but right now all he can think about is grabbing a quick snack and sleeping for the next twenty hours.

[Sleep deprivation detected. Suggestion: Go to bed.]

He groaned, trying to ignore the stupid scarab while peeking in the oven at what Cassie was burning this time.

"So, I have some good news," Cassie said, crossing her arms, following him around the kitchen.

"Can this wait? I'm exhausted." He grabbed a bag of pretzels and began crunching on them.

[Your mate has missed her passed three ovulation cycles. Why would she be excited about that?] Scarab asked. Jaime spat out a glop of half-chewed pretzels into the sink.

Cassie jumped over to him. "Jaime! Are you okay?"

"You're pregnant?!" Jamie stumbled to the floor, passing out.

"Well that could've gone better." Cassie said to herself.

A few minutes later, Jaime woke up in a nearby chair. Cassie continued with the conversation as if nothing had happened.

"How did you know? Am I showing already?" She examined her body. "Did Karen tell you?" She was still jumpy and excited.

"T-the Scarab."

"Why must it keep ruining surprises?" Cassie looked over Jaime's shoulder. "Keep your gossipy mouth shut next time!" She said to the Scarab.

"How did this-? When did this-?" Jaime couldn't finish.

[The infant was conceived three months ago. Before you went on the mission to Alaska.]

Jaime nodded slowly.

"It did it again, didn't it?" She had her hands in her hips. "Well I'm about three months along. What do you think?"

Jaime remained silent. '_I'm gonna be a dad._' He thought.

"Are you mad?" She no idea what to do right now. It was so awkward.

"No, far from it. I- I'm just.. surprised." Jaime stumbled toward a chair. "I'm gonna be a dad.." He said quietly as he started to smile.

"Yeah, good job," she said, punching his arm lightly. "Zues is going to kill you before the baby is born, however."

"Wait- so is it a boy or girl?" Jaime asked, completely oblivious to the fact that he now had a bounty on his head.

[ It is too early to determine a gender] the scarab reminded him at the base of his skull.

"I think it's going to be a girl, but you'll probably think I'm wrong," Cassie said, wrapping him in a tight hug.

"No, if it were a girl that'd be wonderful!"

"Alright, but you should probably get some sleep, I'm going over to Cissie's to help with planning," she said, standing on her tiptoes to give him a proper kiss.

"Right-" he yawned while she grabbed one of his sweatshirts and stepped out of the house.

He goes straight to sleep, the Scarab giving him a run down of the periodic table to help him fall to sleep, and doesn't plan on waking up until roughly four in the morning.

Instead, he gets a call from Dick after only three hours of napping.

"What now?" Jaime said sleepily. "I just got home. I know you are not sending me on another mission so what do you want?"

"I want just calling to tell you to say congrads. I heard about Cassie being pregnant."

"Oh. Well now I feel bad for yelling. Wait, who told you?"

"Well, Cassie told Cissie, who told Artemis, who told Wally, who told me. News spreads fast with us, if you haven't noticed by now."

"Well how come no one told me? I found out like three hours ago."

"We thought you knew. By the way, Diane wants to talk to you as soon as you're avaiblie." Jaime eyes went wide in shock. "Is now a good time?"

He had to come up with something quick.

Jaime took some plastic and crumbled it in front of the phone. *Static* "Not really." *More Static*

"She really wants to speak to you."

Jaime started to skip every few words. "Well th- nothi- *Static* "-do about it. You're *Static* -aking up! Sorry, otta go! Bye!"

He hung up quickly, settled back in bed and tried to go back to sleep.

'_I can worry about Diane later._' He thought.

[The amazon may only be wishing to extend an olive branch], The scarab said, as if trying to comfort his host.

"Seriously? You're usually the one so obsessed with everything trying to kill me- and you think Diane will be cooperative?"

[Correct- she is your mate's godmother after all.]

"I don't think it will work out that well." Jaime mumbled, turning on his side and readjusting the pillows. He also wrapped the blankets tightly around himself- a habit that greatly annoyed Cassie.

[Perhaps you should visit her now rather than sleep?]

"I think sleep is a little more... important currently."

[Very well. Sweet dreams, Jaime Reyes.]

* * *

"Jaime? Jaime? Time to get up." Cassie gently shook him.

"It's too early." He complained.

"It's 1 in the afternoon. Get up." She picked up the other side of the mattress and he rolled off the bed. He pulled the covers over his head and groaned.

"Why are you doing this, Cassie?"

"You need to get up and take me to the doctor. The appointment is in 20 minutes and Diane is going to be here an hour after we get back." Cassie explained.

"That's too much for an afternoon. Wait!" Jaime jumped up, still in his boxers. "Diane is coming here? I thought you loved me."

"I do love you. Obviously." She put a hand to her stomach.

"Then why are you trying to get me killed?"

"What are talking about?"

"Diane is going to kill me for getting you pregnant!"

"I think you're overreacting just a little bit. I'm sure once Diane knows that it was because the condom broke everything will be fine. Now get dressed," she said calmly, throwing a pair of jeans, a shirt and hoodie to him.

"Fine, but when I die keep Bart away from my funeral."

Cassie giggled a little bit, watching him sleepily put on his clothes and struggling with the zipper to his jeans and hoodie. "Why Bart?"

He gave her a 'I think you know why' look and grabbed his car keys, hoping that Nightwing wouldn't call him in for another mission for at least a week.

"Alright, let's go before we're late."

"We're just there to make sure the baby and me are healthy- so don't get too excited," Cassie warned teasingly as she straightened out the oversized sweatshirt she was wearing.

"Not that it'd be problem- after all the Scarab can just tell me as soon as it starts developing... you know."

"He better not! I want it to be a surprise!" Cassie whined.

* * *

"She's going to eat me alive." Jaime mumbled as he sat in the car.

"Are you still complaining? I thought we were done with this." Cassie stopped at a red light.

"I'm telling you she's gonna kill me. Especially since we're not married." Cassie glared at him before turning toward Jaime.

"Did you forget that you proposed to me 4 months ago." Her eyes widened. "Or-or was that a joke? Cause it's not funny!" She snapped.

"What?! I would never joke about that! I was serious, trust me!"

"Good. Cause if not, that scarab will not be enough to save you." She threatened. Her mood making her cut some other car off as she drove faster.

[Jaime Reyes, I don't believe your greatest threat is Wonder Woman.]

"Yeah. I've noticed."

"What?!"

"Nothing." Jaime said, noticing how much faster they were going. "Now, Cassie I love you. But if you go any faster you won't have to worry about making the appointment anymore." He slid down in his seat.

"I love you too," she said cheerily, smiling brightly back at him, as she screeched to a halt at the stop sign. The driver behind them honked angrily.

"Uh, can I drive? You're making me slightly to mostly uncomfortable."

Following that statement, they slid into the doctor office parking lot five minutes later, going a good twenty miles over the speed limit. He was just glad the police officers simutaneously decided to ignore the demigoddess behind the wheel.

"Are you coming in?" She asked, looking at him expentantly. He looked at the stopped car and slowly removed his clenched hands from the arm rests.

"Yeah, just let me get my bearings..." He gratefully stood on the cement, thinking of just flying back home when the time came to leave.

They entered the tiny beige office, with the uncomfortable chairs lining the wall and a TV on low showing repeats on the Food Network Channel.

Cassie strolled right up to the secretary, and Jaime hoped that whoever had to deal with her had a lot of tolerance for her random mood swings. "Cassandra Sandsmark, I have an appointment with Dr. Trux at one fifty-five today."

The secretary handed her a pen to sign in gathered the sheet for her to fill in before her appointment, which Cassie promptly handed to him.

Jaime signed some information slips along with Cassie. He handed them back to the nurse and began to wait a bit nervously.

When the doctor called them in, Jaime did a double take. '_This is it_' He thought. He followed Cassie toward the examination room.

"Hello Cassie. How have you been?" Dr. Trux greeted.

"I've been well, still not used to being pregnant yet." Cassie sat in the chair provided for her.

"Well you only found out a month ago. I'm not surprised." He looked toward Jaime. "Hello. I'm Dr. Trux. You must be the father." He held out his hand.

"Uh, Yes. Yes I am." Jaime tensed as he shook the doctor's hand. "I'm Jaime Reyes."

"Nice to meet you, Mr. Reyes." He chuckled. "I'm going to be doing a routine check up on the baby. I'll ask a few questions, you'll see the baby and that'll be all. No need to be nervous."

"I'm not nervous!"

"It's okay to be nervous. I remember being in your shoes when my son was born. Trust me, it'll go away in about 2 minutes." Jaime nodded. "So Cassie, has the morning sickness passed?"

"It mostly has, thank goodness."

"Any weird cravings?"

"I have been feeling the need to eat a lot of meat. Hamburgers, sloopy joes. I need meat." The doctor chuckled again.

"Any mood swings?"

"No, not really." Cassie shrugged. Dr. Trux looked toward Jaime who nodded his head. '_Yes_!' The doctor got the message.

"Well, everything seems to be in order. I'll set up this machine here and you'll be on your way."

"What does the machine do?" Jaime asked.

"This will help see the baby, it's gender and it's growth throughout the next 6 months." Dr. Trux explained. He set up the machine and got out some gel and a wand. "I need you to lift your shirt up a bit."

Cassie lifted her shirt just above her stomach. Jaime stared in wonder as he saw the slight bulge her stomach made. The doctor put some of the gel on her stomach and Cassie shivered. He put the wand on top of the gel and looked toward the screen.

"Here's your uterus." Jaime chose to ignore the word. "Ah, and here is the baby." He pointed toward the screen. Jaime leaned in for a better look.

"Wow." He and Cassie whispered.

"I-I can't believe it." Jaime said.

"Your baby seems very healthy and growing just fine." He looked at Jaime and nodded knowing his nervousness was replaced with adoration. He walked toward the door. "I'll give you both a moment."

As he stared at the screen. He heard Cassie start to cry.

"I can't see it!" She exclaimed.

He seriously wanted to ram his head into a wall. [The fetus is only about two to three pounds at this stage of life, it is understandable for your mate to not be able to view it currently]

"It's-" He traced it midair. "Right there. Really small. The scarab can't detect the gender yet, it's still too young, but it has all its organs." He rattled off everything he remembered from the stupid Child Development class he took as a Junior in high school. It turned out to be a lot more useful than what he initially though it would be.

"Really?"

He nodded, just as Dr. Trux came back in, proudly displaying the picture, which he handed to Jaime. "First picture of your son or daughter!"

"When can we find out the gender?" He asked, ignoring Cassie's glare.

"Twenty weeks. Maybe a little sooner or later. But that's still another two months, so you have plenty of time."

[You could always ask the Kid Flash- he is from a later time period], the Scarab reminded him.

He groaned. Talking to Bart hadn't exactly been on his to-do list. Especially when it meant that he would have to tell him about Cassie. He didn't even notice Dr. Trux staring at him until Cassie quickly said: "He's a schizo, ignore him."

"Okay... Well with that. The appointment is over. Thank you for coming and if you have any questions, please feel free to call."

"Thank you, Dr. Trux." Cassie said as she walked out. Dr. Trux put a hand on Jaime's shoulder.

"Not so nervous anymore, huh?" Jaime smiled before following his fiancé.

"Jaime, hurry up!" Cassie yelled. Some of the others jumped from the outburst and glared at her. "What are you looking at? You never saw a pregnant woman before?!" She glared back at them.

"Okay, honey. I'm coming. Don't scare they nice people." Jaime hurried her out of the building.

"Well, they shouldn't be staring!"

"They just... wondering how you got so beautiful. I mean, look at you."

Cassie smirked. "Ha, ha. Thank you for trying to make me feel better." She kissed his cheek. They walked toward the car.

"Cassie, uh, how about I drive? I mean with the whole baby thing, you need to take it easy." Jaime rushed into the driver's seat.

"Okay. Whatever." She shrugged and laid back in her seat. "Now, come on! We have to clean up the house before Diane gets there!" She said excitedly.

Jaime slowly started the car as let the words sink in.

"I'm dead." He muttered.

[Indeed you are, Jaime Reyes.]


	2. Chapter 2

Ch. 2

Jaime took a deep breath, watching as Cassie made sure all the couch cushions were in place. He finished taking care of the clean plates just as the doorbell rang.

Moment of truth.

"Diane!" Cassie squealed, rushing towards the door while Jaime more or less took as much time as possible getting there.

"Good afternoon, Cassie. Jaime."

[At least she's ignoring you rather than tearing your limbs off] The Scarab reassured him, though plating most of his body with the armor for precautionary measures anyways.

"What's with the bags?" Cassie asked, nodding towards the bags in Diane's hands. Always the charmer...

Diane looked at the bags, before stepping into the house. He vaguely wondered if they were instrument of torture. "Gifts. Since I will busy with a pre-planned mission for the next seven months, I decided to buy you your baby gifts in advance. Gender nuetral, of course."

"Aww, Thank you! That's so nice! Isn't Jaime?" They both looked at Jaime who was zoned out, thinking of all the ways Diane could kill him without moving from her spot.

"What?"

"Isn't it nice of Diane to bring us baby supplies?" Cassie said.

"Uh, Very nice. Thank you." He said nervously. Diane nodded before Cassie pulled her toward the couch.

"So what kind of stuff did you bring?"

"I brought you some feeding bottles, a few bibs, and the cutest batman outfit I couldn't help but get." Diane said.

"Oh, let me see, let me see!" Diane got out the batman outfit with a cowl hood. Cassie squealed at the sight of it. "It's adorable!"

"That is pretty cute." Jaime admitted.

"I also got you guys a play-pen. It's a little early for a crib but I wanted to get you something that you wouldn't need later on."

"You and Jaime can start building it now, it shouldn't take that long. Set it up in the spare room and I'll make you guys some drinks." Cassie suggested as she walked toward the kitchen.

'[I believe this where you need to worry.]

"Trust me I am." Jaime muttered.

"Excuse me?" Diane asked.

"Uh, nothing!" Jaime quickly grabbed the box and rushed into the spare room. "Right here should be fine." Diane nodded and started getting to work.

Over an hour of building in silence, Jaime couldn't stand it anymore.

"Are you going to kill me with your scary amazon powers are not?" Jaime snapped.

"Um." Was all she could say.

"So you're not going to kill me?"

"No. I never thought that was an option." Diane answered.

"I thought you were angry with me since I got Cassie pregnant out of wed-lock."

"Even though I wish you waited until you were married to have a child, I just the baby and Cassie to be happy. I want you to take good care of them." She put hand on his shoulder and Jaime smiled. "I hope I have enough time to make to the wedding."

"There'll be a seat for you in the front row."

"I believe your biggest problem is not with me but with Tim. He was quite fond of Cassie and not that she's pregnant, I can't imagine he would be happy." Diane said.

"Guys! Lunch is ready!" Cassie called from the kitchen. Diane walked out.

"This is good but now I gotta set things straight with Tim." He sighed. "At least it's not Bart. Anybody is better than Bart."

[I still wonder what your issue is with Bart.]

"Freaky kid like four years younger than me from the future obsessed with me to the point that it could be seen as homophobic?" He said out loud, following Diane out to where Cassie had piled an abundance of sandwiches on the table.

'You are very dramatic, Jaime Reyes,' The scarab informed him matter-of-factly.

"Did you guys get the play pen all set up?" Cassie asked excitedly, draining her orange juice as she picked apart her ham sandwich.

"Yes," Diane answered. "Have you called your mother yet? Or Zeus?"

Cassie bit her lip. "No, I wasn't sure, with them both being so busy I wasn't sure how they'd take it. Besides, I think my mom wanted to be closer to seventy before she had her first grandchild, not in her fifties."

Diane patted the blonde's shoulder sympathetically. "She will understand."

"Yeah, I hope."

[I cannot believe your mate is worried over something as trivial as this.]

'It's like a soap opera,' Jaime replied mentally.

Jaime wasn't really sure when it would be a good time to invade Tim's apartment and tell him Cassie was pregnant. Tim wasn't really a jealous ex-boyfriend type, especially since him and Cassie had mutually broke it off after a few weeks of dating when they were all still teens. Instead, he was like a scary, tai-kwon-do knowing overprotective brother.

So, he just waited for fate to intervene and sure enough, by the end of the week him and Tim were shoved on a recon mission together.

"So, Tim, how's life?" He asked, figuring it probably wouldn't be the world's greatest opening line to tell him that Cassie was pregnant. And that they were engaged...

'You appear to be delivering a steady stream of bad news, Jaime Reyes.'

"Fine. Stephanie wants to move in next month. You?"

"I knocked Cassie up." He mentally killed himself. Several times. He couldn't have at least put it lightly or done it in Scarab terms? He had to use that phrase? He added a stab wound mentally.

Maybe Tim would just kill him and end his miserable life.

"You what?" Tim tightened the hold on his staff.

"So moving in with Stephaine, huh? Big step."

"Cassie is what?" If they weren't on a mission, Tim would be shouting right now.

"I got Cassie pregnant." Jaime admitted. Tim glared at him. Even behind the mask, you could see the hatred for Jaime in his eyes.

[I believe it is time for you to start running, Jaime Reyes.] Jaime gulped.

"I hope you plan on marrying her."

"I proposed to her."

"This is not the way to marry to her. She deserves better then that." His eyes narrowed more, if it was possible.

"I proposed to her months ago before she was pregnant." He put his hands up in surrender. "Like a month before."

"And she said yes?"

"You were there remember? She kept screaming 'I'm engaged!' until she lost her voice."

"Oh yeah." Tim smiled at the memory. "You better treat her with respect especially with a baby on the way."

"Of course I would. I love her."

"Well now that it's settled." He lightened up focused on the target once again. "Do you have any advice on living with your girlfriend?" Tim begged.

"Uh, I'd go to Wally. He's best at this." Jaime said as he flew to a different viewing point of the target.

"Some help you are," Tim whispered in the general direction of Jaime. "We've got enough on this guy to keep him locked up for five lifetimes, wanna take him in?"

"Yeah, sure."

Once the target was knocked unconcious and Tim had wrapped his wrists together with cables, Jaime flew him to the nearest police station (which also just happened to be the station that Nightwing worked at), while Tim headed off to the Watchtower to get debriefing for them both.

* * *

"How was your day?"

Cassie sighed, laying across his lap so that her feet were propped up against the couch armrest. "Aside from Kaldur telling me I can't be of any help for the next six months? Perfectly fine."

"Why'd he say that? Can't you help Oracle or something?"

"Too much stress I guess. How was yours?"

He shrugged, feeling it would be better if he left out most of the days events. "Okay."

"Bart called for you earlier."

Jaime's eyes widened, then he sighed. "What did he say?"

"He wanted to see you on the Watchtower tomorrow."

"And what did you say?"

"I told him you'd be there at 6 for montier duty." Jaime jumped off the couch.

"Why would you tell him that?! I don't wanna see him!"

"You're gonna have to speak to him eventually!" Cassie stood up to face him." What between you two anyway? You guys used to be good friends."

"I don't want to talk about it. Ever." He said harshly. Cassie slowly sat back down, her head hanging low. "Sorry Cassie. I didn't mean to-." He sighed again. "I'm sorry."

"It's fine. I guess it's none of my business anyway."

"It's awkward. I don't really like talking about it." He sat down next her and pulled her into his lap. "I'll talk to him tomorrow."

"And in the mean time..." Cassie wrapped her arms around his neck.

"But what about-" Cassie kissed him.

"I know my emotions are mess and they'll be even worse if you don't give me what I want." Cassie demanded.

Jaime complied and kissed her back, moving away to kiss down her jaw and her neck and down to her collarbone where he placed a long sloppy kiss right at the center of.

"Jaime-"

He slid his hands up under her shirt, pausing a moment to gently lay a hand against the growing skin where his future daughter or son was developing. An impatient whine from the back of Cassie's throat brought him back to the matter at hand.

* * *

He jolts awake at five twenty the next morning when Cassie unintentionally elbows him and almost breaks a couple of his ribs. She's fast asleep against his chest and her hair is draped across his bicep. His left hand is numb, and when he finally drags it out from underneath the blankets he notices that Cassie has their hands clamped firmly together.

He slides the hand that isn't being crushed by her demigoddess strength and places it against the swell of her stomach and lets the armor stretch across his arm until it covers his fingertips. A tingle went up through his nerves as he moved his fingers across her belly, feeling the light thump of a heartbeat that the Scarab could detect.

[Sensors are now able to detect a gender, would you like to be informed?]

He wouldn't love anything more in the world to know what the gender for the baby would be, but he bit back the words. Cassie wanted it to be a surprise, and keep everything gender neutral until the last second. And even if she decided against that, she should probably be awake (and clothed) so she could know as well.

So, he shook his head and closed his eyes to get another few hours of sleep.

* * *

Both Cassie and Jaime were woken by the sound of someone's cell phone ringing. They looked at each other and admired the lack of clothing the other had.

"Morning Bonita." Jaime said.

"Morning handsome." Cassie smiled and kissed Jaime before getting up to get dressed.

Jaime watched her leave before checking his phone with his semi numb hand. The smile was wiped off his when he saw who had called.

Cassie saw this change and asked "What's wrong?" She handed him his boxers.

"What time is it?"

"It's noon. Why?"

"I just realized that I only have a few happy hours before I have to see Bart." Jamie groaned.

"Stop complaining and try to look at this as a positive thing. You can finally resolve whatever was going on with you two." She put her hands on her hips as she looked at him. "You guys used to be best friends. You hung out a lot."

"That was because he told me that one day I would be an evil dictator and enslave everyone for the Reach."

"Ugh, don't say that name. Way too many bad memories."

"Sorry. But, I'm not sure if he was trying help me or trying to get with me."

Cassie gave him an odd look. "Bart was just trying help you, Jaime. Are you an evil dictator right now? No. You should be thanking him and not shutting him out." Cassie raised her voice. Then she thought of something. "Does he even know about the baby?"

"He might. You know if Wally told him."

"Jamie Reyes, you are going to meet with Bart and you are going to fix things. You hear me?" She yelled.

Jaime sighed and shook his head.

Jaime couldn't decide if he was looking forward to going to the watchtower or if it was just going to go to end up on his [long] list of regrets. When it came time to leave, Kara was there to keep Cassie company by teaching her the correct way to make thumbprint cookies.

Not a lot of people were at the watchtower when he got there. Artemis and Zatanna were doing hand-to-hand combat, La'gann was playing chess with Tim on one of the transparent boards, and Bart was on monitor duty with Mal.

"Jaime!"

Within seconds pretty he had everyone surrounding him. Zatanna was giving him such a tight hug he thought it rivaled Cassie's, and La'gann was giving him a high-five-

And then he was left alone with Bart. He awkwardly rubbed his neck because to be honest, he had no idea how to go about this.

"So-"

"Cissie told me Cassie was pregnant," Bart said, then flashed a cheeky grin. "'Course, I already knew, being from the future and all."

Oh right. Bart already knew how terrible fatherhood would be for him. "Wait, I thought I was dictator in your future?"

Bart flopped onto the abandoned couch. "Well, yeah. Doesn't mean you didn't have a cocubine."

The way he said it so casually made chills go up his spine. "Cassie was-"

"Yeah. This kid ended up being sick, the middle one is on our side and the last one was as much as a tyrant as you were." When he noticed Jaime's wide eyes he muttered an obscentity as well as a 'spoilers'.

"There's more than one?"

Before Bart could form a good answer, the lights flickered out and the zeta lit up.

_"Override. Recognized, Klarion 01."_


	3. Chapter 3

Ch. 3

"_Override. Recognized Klarion 01_"

"What the hell?" Jaime yelled as he suited up and ran to Klarion. Bart put his mask on as he followed Jaime to the Zeta tubes.

"What are you doing here?" Jaime pointed his laser at him. "One wrong move and I'll blast you!" He threatened.

"This is very undiplamatic of the Justice League." Klarion said to his cat familiar.

"What do you mean?" Jaime glared at him.

"I was invited here."

Jaime scoffed. "By who?"

"_By me_." A voice behind him spoke. Jaime turned slowly, laser still armed, toward the voice.

"Bart?!" He yelled. Bart was standing ever so casually, hands on his hips as if he were doing some sort of heroic deed by calling Klarion into the watchtower.

Klarion clapped excitedly. "I'm glad to see were finally all on the same page. Now, baby flash-"

"She hasn't been born yet, I miscalculated by a few months, sorry," Bart whispered. He sounded apologetic.

"Whoa, what? Mind bringing me to speed?" Jaime asked, staring intently at the speedster who was turning red with embarassment. He snuck a glance at Klarion, who oddly enough wasn't attempting to destroy the place.

"I asked for his help," Bart finally blurted out. "He could've helped in the future, but Cele- the baby got sick before he was able to."

"When you said sick I thought you meant like cancer or anemia or-"

"Not exactly," Bart explained, "She's a quarter god. God's have power. But because she's three-fourths human when she tried to absorb the power she needed, it also absorbed the weaknesses and illnesses of others."

"And her immune system collapsed on top of her. Basically she ate away her own body," Klarion finished boredly, fingers scratching the cats ears.

"And Klarion can stop it before she can even begin to know about her powers."

"And- and you couldn't have told me this before?!" Jaime yelled at Bart.

"You were avoiding me. Why do you think I made sure we meet today at this time." Bart defended.

"So you could betray the league. Does anyone else know he's here?"

"No, you're the only one. Everyone's either on a mission, has the night off or is to deep into the Watchtower to hear the announcement." Bart said.

"How could you do this?!" He said.

"It's not like he hasn't been here before. He took control of the entire league for more then sixteen hours."

"Oh, now that was a fun time. Ah, the _destruction_." Klarion chuckled. He floated in mid air.

"I'll come back to that later." Jaime shook his hand at Klarion. "But again why?"

Bart sighed. "I didn't want to see you and Cassie suffer again. It was such a sad time when your baby got sick. Just a few days after it died," Bart started to tear up. "we found out that we could've saved it by asking Klarion."

Jaime expression softened, "I just didn't want any of you to go through that again." Bart finished. It was quiet after he finished until Klarion broke it by clapped his hands slowly.

"Such a tear jerker. But you explain why I'm here." He smiled.

"He can absorb the power that Ce- _she_ has. It might make him stronger but it makes her better," Bart blew air through his nose. "Unfortunately, I thought Cassie was farther in her pregnancy than what she is. Klarion needs to be able to physically touch the baby to absorb the power."

Jaime looked curiously at Klarion who seemed to be morphing his body to blend in with the staff that worked at the watchtower and casually leaning against one of the walls. He apparently wasn't listening anymore. "Okay, but what if he decided to double-cross you, take the baby as well as the power."

Bart shrugged. "I dunno, the pros outweigh the cons? Even if you don't agree I'm faster than you and Cassie combined and you guys can't keep the baby sheltered forever."

Jaime felt shivers go up his back. Bart was literally threatening to kidnap his child.

* * *

Jaime went home feeling disgusted with himself. He had no idea how he was going to tell Cassie about selling their child to a Lord of Chaos. If she didn't kill him when she did, he was probably going to leave him.

Not that he'd blame her.

When Jaime walked through his front door, he found Cassie laying on the couch fast asleep. Her hand rested on her stomach and the other held on the floor as the TV played before her. Jaime smiled as he watched her sleep peacefully but it left as quickly as it came.

'How can I tell her about what I did? She'd killed me or worse leave me.' He sighed as he crouched down beside her and put a hand on her growing stomach. He started to whisper to his unborn child.

"I'm sorry, _hijo_.. _hija_.. you. I'm so sorry for what I did to you. I was just trying to help you." Jaime felt the sting of tears in his eye. "I guess this is technically all Bart's fault."

[This is as much your fault as it is the Impulse's, Jaime Reyes.]

Jaime sighed again. "I know. I might as well get this over with." He started to shake his fiancé. "Cassie, _Bonita_. We need to talk."

Cassie woke slowly her vision coming to a focus before she jumped up and hugged Jaime. "Oh Jaime, I have such great news to tell you."

"I actually have something to tell you."

"Me first!" Cassie squealed.

"It's actually really important, Cass. It can't wait." Jaime tried. Cassie grabbed his hand, put it to her stomach and that's when he felt it. The light tapping that made his jaw drop.

"I thought it was too early for it to be kicking but Diane said since it's half Amazonian it develops slightly faster then a regular baby." Cassie explained. "Isn't this great?"

Jaime couldn't help but smile sadly. "It's incredible. But-" Jaime stuttered.

"But _what_? Aren't you happy? This is exciting."

"No. It's not. I need to tell you something that you're gonna hate me for, but I had no choice." Cassie pulled away and crossed her arms.

"Okay, so when I met Bart this evening there was another person joining us. It was Klarion." Cassie eyes widened. "I thought he betrayed us. But he said that Klarion could help us."

"And by 'us' you mean me and you?"

"Yes. See it turns out that in the future, this baby gets sick because of all the power it inherits from you. Since it's a fourth Amazonian it can't handle it. Bart said that Klarion could help save it, so when it's born Klarion is going to take the baby and-"

"You gave up our baby to a _lord of chaos_?!"

"No! He's gonna take some of it's power. But he has to touch it so he can." Cassie glared at him.

"How could you?" She said darkly. "What kind of father are you?!"

"I did it for the _baby_! So it didn't get sick! I didn't want you to go through that!" Cassie punched him with all her demi-goddess strength.

"**Get out**!" Jamie rubbed his jaw, ignoring the pain.

"Cassie, I did it -" She shoved him towards the door.

"I don't care! Get out of my house! You're a traitor to your own kind! How could you?!" Cassie pushed him out the door.

"_Bonita_-"

"Don't call me that. I hate you!" Cassie yelled before slamming the door in his face.

[I believe this is the moment you were dreading.]

"Yes, yes it is." Jaime said as he walked away from the house.

* * *

Cassie was crying the second the door closed. Maybe it was just the extra hormones or everything that was going on but soon she was curled up letting tears catch into the fabric of her - uh, Jaime's - sweatshirt.

She had thought he would've been elated to have a child. And even if he wasn't one hundred percent sure that he was ready, well he'd come to terms with it eventually.

But giving their unborn child to _Klarion_? This wasn't Rumplestiltskin! Klarion hadn't came in and produced some wonderful deed so she could marry Jaime-

Oh right. They weren't even married yet. Violent sobs racked her body as she cradled herself. She couldn't take care of a baby herself, she still needed several more hours to complete her college courses for a bachelor's degree. Her mom, Diana and Zeus were out of the picture.

Oh god, was she going to have to give it up for adoption? Or worse yet, get an _abortion_?

She looked down to her growing stomach. She looked closer to six months rather than four. She'd felt like she'd grown so close to her baby, she couldn't stand the thought of having to give it away or kill it.

But if Jaime was gone, what was she going to do? She might have had a trust fund to pay for the rent on the house, but Jaime brought in most of the money for toiletries and food.

That was it. She was going to have to go to the watchtower and demand Kaldur let her do something. At this point she didn't care if it meant bringing everyone morning coffee if it meant survival. And if worse came to worse, Tim was one of her closest friends and he also happened to be a ward of a billionaire.


	4. Chapter 4

Ch. 4

Cassie sighed as she stood infront of the Zeta tube posing as photo booth. After a week of staying at home alone she finally decided to do something about it. She wasn't gonna sit around waiting for a guy she didn't want to see.

_I don't need Jaime_. Cassie thought as she put her hand on her growing stomach. _I can take of us myself._

_Recognized, Wondergirl, B21_

"Hey Cassie." Artemis greeted. "I haven't seen you in a while. How's the baby?" She smiled.

"Hi Artemis. Everything's great. The baby started kicking a few days ago." Cassie lied with a fake smile. Artemis looked at her.

"I can tell you're lying. Are you sure you're okay?"

Cassie sighed. "No. Everything is just falling apart."

"Do you wanna talk about it?"

"Please."

* * *

"So Jaime gave up your baby.. to _Klarion_?" Artemis was flabbergasted.

"Yeah. I can't believe how he could do that to his family, his own flesh and blood." Cassie said quietly.

"So why did you come to the watchtower? Was it Bart?"

"No, _ugh_. He's the other one I want to avoid." She rolled her eyes. "I just- I came to see if I can get job doing moniter duty. I can't stay in that house all day."

"It's okay with me, I understand how you're feeling. But talk to Nightwing or Kaldur anyway to maintain the job."

"Thank you _so_ much." She hugged Artemis.

"But you do know that Jaime is gonna be here, right? He's been here everyday this week."

Cassie jumped. "He is?! Please keep him away from me. I don't think I can handle looking at the face of a traitor."

Artemis shrugged. "Alright, I'll make sure people know to keep both Jaime and Bart away."

"Thank you, Artemis. I owe you one."

"Don't worry about it. I've got you and mini you's back."

Cassie made sure to talk to Nightwing about keeping up monitor duty- which she got permission to from him in like three seconds. After that she got to sit down in a comfy chair up high in the watchtower logging time and location from zetas and filing old debriefs into folders.

"Hey, so Bart says he wants to talk to you," Artemis said, leaning against one of the keyboards.

Cassie gave her an incredulous stare, causing the older woman to laugh. "No worries, I politely told him to screw off."

"Thanks, Arty." Cassie turned back to where she was trying to sort all of the debriefs that had been especially for Guardian.

"Hey, no problem. Just try and patch things up with Jaime in the near future, okay?"

Cassie took a deep breath, suddenly hating Artemis with every fiber in her body. "And. Why. Would. I . Do. That."

"Don't tell me you're gonna throw away _eight_ years of your life just because he makes a stupid mistake. You're gonna forget _prom_, losing your _virginity_, your baby's _dad_-"

Cassie stopped her, hands tight on the folder she was holding. "Alright. Fine, I'll call or something later."

"Good. Remember, it's not bad to have fights from time to time, God knows yours was _long_ overdue, but you need to learn to forgive."

"I'll try," Cassie said simply.

Ten minutes later she was boredly logging in the information that Kaldur needed to send Gamma squad- consisting of Robin, Arrowette, and Superboy- out to investigate an abandoned warehouse.

That was when the baby kicked. Really, _really_ hard. It almost made her cry out, but it didn't do it again, so she just went back to work. A few minutes later the baby kicked again. And again. For an entire hour the tiny human inside of her used her insides as a punching bag while Cassie tried to figure out if this hurt worse than the horrible period cramps she had after the first time she had sex.

Eventually she gave up and called the one of the girls that had been pregnant before to see if this was normal. Raquel was sympathetic, but unhelpful. She said it was normal for the baby to kick and occasionally make her uncomfortable but not be in pain.

She called Zatanna, the magician told her to pop an ibuprofen. Artemis told her to lie down, which only made it worse. Kara suggested drinking sierra mist, which gave her the hiccups.

Eventually, cradled in a pain-induced ball she gave in and called Jaime. At least the Scarab wouldn't give her nonesense advice. She counted the rings, hoping to take her mind off the pain. When he answered the phone she immediately lost count and felt tongue-twisted.

"Jaime?" She asked softly. The baby was still kicking her lower stomach so hard she was afraid she was gonna throw up or pee herself or both.

"Cassie-"

"Save it," She blurted out. "The baby it's kicking really hard and it really hurts. Can the scarab do some sort of analysis thing and make sure it's not trying to kill me from the inside out."

"I highly doubt she's trying to kill you."

"She?" The pain was forgotten as soon as he said that.

"The scarab might have said that. He also said that the pain you are experiencing are from the baby being half amazonian or god or whatever."

She ground her teeth together, "Thanks."

"You're welcome- oh, and did you need money to pay for groceries? I meant to ask you yesterday but-"

"Jaime don't think just because I called you we're back together. I still have a lot to think about, mainly whether to leave you or not." Cassie pointed out.

"But Cassie you don't understand. I was only trying help to her."

"Oh, and thank you for ruining the surprise. I was hoping to find out when she was born. But at least now I know what color to buy."

"Sorry Cassie, but were you serious about the leaving me thing?"

Cassie sighed. "Good bye, Jaime." Then she she hung up and stared at the ceiling above her. "At least I know why it's so bad."

After a few minutes Cassie got up and went back to work. Once she finished, she looked down at the engagement ring on her finger.

"_Why_ am I still wearing this?" She took off the ring and glared at it. "How have I not taken this off yet?"

She tucked the ring into her pocket because it would be _too_ cruel to just throw it out. She turned her head when she heard a knock on the door.

"Hey, Cassie, I'm gonna take over for the night."

She got up, careful to not bump her growing stomach, and made sure to thank Garfield and tell him goodnight.

The city was pretty quiet once she zeta'd and she tugged down her hair from the ponytail she had had it in. She walked to the store that was a few blocks from the house and browsed through the girl baby clothes. Everything was really... _pink_. She ended up leaving without buying anything.

The house was really quiet and dark and, well, lonely. She tried to push the thought out of her head while she flipped through a baby book for a good name.

"I never realized how empty this place could be. Try not to let it bother you, Cassie." She rubbed her eyes, then went back to the book. "Melissa... That's a nice name. Melissa Rey- No." She flipped the page.

"Mindy .. No. Uh, Nancy.. ew no." Then there was a knock at the door. "Who?"

"It's Tim." Cassie's eyes widened before she stood up and opened the door. She let him inside.

"Tim, what are you doing here?"

"I know Jaime hasn't been here for days. And I wanted to make sure you were aright."

"I'm fine. I don't need any help." That's when the baby decided to give her a hard kick. "_Ow_!"

"Doesn't look that way to me." He lead her to the couch where she started to relax. "Why did you kick Jaime out?"

She huffed. "Reasons only Bart can explain. All that matters now is that he's gone and I don't know if I want him back."

"Is it that bad?"

"Worse. But I don't feel like talking about it anymore." She crossed her arms.

"Okay. So, how are you and the baby?"

"We're fine, I guess. While it- _she's_ not trying to kill me from the inside out, I'm trying to find a name for her."

"It's a _girl_? I thought you wanted it to be a surprise."

"Well surprise ruined. Anyway, got any names?"

"How about Timantha?" Cassie glared at him and he chuckled. "What? I come up with good names." Cassie rolled her eyes and closed the book.

"Nevermind. You're useless." She put the book back in the book case. "Listen, I have an appointment in the morning. Do you want to come with me? I don't feel like being alone."


	5. Chapter 5

Ch. 5

If Jaime could describe his current mood in one word it would be annoyed. There was several reasons he moved out of his parents house when he was seventeen and he apparently forgot them all when he asked his mom if he could stay there for a few weeks.

For one, no matter how many times he said he didn't want to talk about it, his parents constantly asked him about why him and Cassie were seperated. He managed to avoid mentioning that Cassie was pregnant because he was 99.99% certain that wouldn't fly with his "marry-before-reproducing" mother.

And then there were the endless favors, asking him to pick up Milagro from school; keep her in on Saturday nights; go to Milagro's soccer games. He was ready to go back his and Cassie's house and never leave because now he definitely remembered why he had left.

Milagro was the only thing that kept him from ripping his hair out and finally going off to the deep end of insanity.

"So, are you ever going to tell us why you and Cassie split?" She asked, handing him a bowl of chocolate ice cream. She then managed to curl up in the crook of his arm. No matter how old they got their brother-sister relationship still involved a lot of close contact.

"I'd rather not."

"She'll forgive you," Milagro said sincerely, eating a spoonful of her frozen treat.

He stirred his ice cream around a little bit. "Really? How can you tell?"

"You're not _that_ ugly."

"Ha, very funny."

"Seriously what happened?"

"I did something that I shouldn't have and I thought it was for the best." Jaime explained.

"You didn't cheat on her, did you?" She looked at her brother.

"No I would never do that to Cassie."

"Then what was it?" Jaime looked around. He knew his parents had went to bed an hour ago but he had to be sure no one heard this conversation.

He looked down before looking his sister in the eye. "You can not tell anyone. But.. Cassie's pregnant." Milagro gasped. "And-"

"_You're not the father_." She interrupted.

"_What_? No I am! At least I really hope I am. But anyway, I did agreed to something involving the baby that I shouldn't have. I can't tell what. But Cassie extremely mad at me. She kicked me out actually."

"Alright." She said, trying to process everything. "Huh, I wondered why you would come back after making that big speech when you left."

"I _didn't_ make a speech." He said as he inhaled some ice cream.

"Oh please. Mr. _I'm never coming back! Take a picture cause you're never gonna see me again. If you're desperate, there's always Skype. Hasta Nunca, Mother_-!"

"Okay! No need quote everything I said." Jaime cut her off.

Milagro was quiet for a minute. "Did you _apologize_?"

"Wow, I would have never thought of that," Jaime said sarcastically with a roll of his eyes.

* * *

He woke up later to the sound of his phone ringing. The alarm clock read 7:50am. He groaned and searched blindly for the stupid object.

"Yeah?"

"Good morning, **_sunshine_**."

Jaime took a long, deep breath and replied, "Why are you calling me so early?"

"It's like five in the evening here."

Jaime rolled his eyes. "Fine. What's up?"

"I took Cassie to her appointment today. Now I know she was totally against calling you but I figured it couldn't hurt to extend the olive branch to you-"

"Get to the point, Tim."

"Well it's definitely a girl. Cassie's against naming her Timantha, but she hasn't picked out any names she liked yet."

"Is she using Sandsmark or Reyes as a last name?"

"Reyes," Tim replied simply.

Jaime fell a heavy pang in his chest as he started to grin. 'She's still a Reyes.' He thought.

"Guessing by your silence, you're shocked and exstatic. But yeah all she has is the last name."

"Wow. You telling me this just made my day." Jaime said.

"Of course she's using Reyes. She's angry at you, yes. But that doesn't mean she's leaving you." Tim joked.

"She told me she was thinking about it."

"Wha-. uh, she said something about that but I didn't think she was serious." Tim explained." And still doubt that she is."

"She told you?" Jaime sighed. "And just like that, the smile is gone and won't be coming back."

"She's a pregnant woman that's currently by herself, expect it. But calm down, dude. You don't actually think she's gonna leave you, she loves you way too much for that."

"I don't know."

"Dude, you've got almost 9 years of love under your belt. She's not leaving that behind, think about it. Oh, Cassie's back. I'll keep you posted." Tim rushed before hanging up.

_'Maybe there is hope.'_

He pulled the blankets back over his head, just as Milagro burst in. "Jaime, take me to your house with you, I want to meet Cassie." She stopped for a second and hastily added: "_por favor_".

"I don't think that's a good idea," He mumbled, squishing his eyes with the palm of his hands. Milagro looked like he had just told her that he had ran over her kitten with his car. "Alright, fine."

"_De nada_, Jaime."

"Just get in the stupid car."

* * *

Twenty minutes later he was tiredly trying to find a good stopping point so he could fly Milagro the rest of the way without someone realizing he was Blue Beetle. Unfortunately, everyone had decided that they were going to clog up even the most isolated of places and he was just getting frustrated.

"Where do you guys live anyways?"

"Washington."

Milagro made a face while he pulled over to the side of the road. "You could live anywhere- you could live in _Miami_- and you choose to live in Washington?"

"Well it sounds stupid when you say it out loud."

"That's because it is stupid, Jaime."

"It's a really nice place, to be honest."

Milagro rolled her eyes. "But it's Washington. Cold and damp and rainy..."

"Well, we like it. Besides it's right on the border to California. The drives aren't that long."

"Still seems boring but hey at least you're close to Hollywood." Milagro shrugged. She looked up at a sign and pointed toward the nearest exit. "Oh, take that exit. It should take us to an isolated place." Jaime nodded and turn to the right.

* * *

When they got to the clearing, Milagro jumped out and stretched her legs.

"Two hours trapped in that stupid car and we're not even half way there." She complained. "How did you get home without a car?"

"I took a zeta tube. Fastest way to travel anywhere." Jaime said as he suited up into his Blue Beetle suit. He heard his sister mumble something about spoiled superheroes. "Come on, if you wanna get there before dark we better leave now."

Milagro jumped into his arms and Jaime let out a groan. "Don't groan when you lift me!"

"Sorry Ms. have another milk shake. You're not as light as a feather." He said as hey took off into the sky.

"Do you think she'll like me?"

"From what I've told her, she'll love you."

"Then what's with the face?"

'It's not her reaction to you I'm worried about, it's me." Jaime explained. "She's still very angry with me. I had to find about her appointment from Tim calling to tell me."

"So?"

"So that means she doesn't want me around. When we get there, I'm dropping you off and heading to the watchtower."

"What? Jaime, you can't leave me alone with a half Amazonian pregnant woman. She'll kill me, I don't wanna die at 16."

"You'll be fine. Once you two get comfortable, you'll be the best of friends. Sadly." He rolled his eyes.

Milagro was at the door in less than ten minutes and Jaime was retreating quickly to a zeta tube to get to the watchtower. She sighed and knocked hard on the door, waiting for the door to open.

"Hello?"

Milagro smiled. She'd never actually met Cassie in person but the way Jaime described her matched perfectly. "Hi, um, I'm Milagro."

Cassie brightened and opened the door a little wider. "Sorry, it's a little messy, I haven't really been in the mood for cleaning."

Milagro raised an eyebrow. The house looked lived in- empty water bottles and blankets and a few discarded hoodies. "It's perfectly fine, I'll help you." She reached to fold a blanket but Cassie stopped her.

"Did Jaime put you up to this?"

"No," Milagro picked up the empty water bottles. "But while we're on the subject of Jaime, I know he's dickhead-"

"You think?"

Milagro chose to ignore the comment. "-But he does love you. Like, _annoyingly_ so."

"How often did he talk about it?"

"Too often," Milagro whined. "He didn't tell Mom and Dad about you being pregnant."

"Why not?"

Milgro shrugged. "Let's just say they want a ring on your finger before having a baby."

Cassie nodded. "Right. I forgot they were like that. But we're getting married soon so does it count?"

"I guess." She shrugged again. "Where do you want me to put these blankets?"

"In the closet by the bathroom. Thank you."

"It's fine, I'm happy to help."

"Do you want anything?"

"Can I have some water?" Cassie nodded and went for the kitchen.

"Not to be rude but why did Jaime drop you off here? Considering that he didn't even stick around."

"I made him bring me here. I wanted to meet the famous Cassie, I've heard so much about. From what Jaime said you're a total bad ass."

Cassie cheeks blushed a bit. "Really?"

"Yeah. I've been wanting to meet you since you first starting dating. But Jaime was so glad to be rid of his family, he never brought over. Well at least while I was there."

"Jaime always said he hated growing up there."

"It's not ask that bad. It definitely got more boring when Jaime left. But I'm glad to be getting out too. Just one more year and I'll be free like Jaime." Milagro smiled.

"I'm just glad I got the chance to meet you."

Cassie smiled as she grabbed Milagro her water. But the smile faded when she thought of something. "Jaime didn't guilt you into doing this right?"

"No I swear. He was too afraid of what of what you might've said and ran to the watchtower." Cassie sighed. "He really misses you, you know ."

"Yeah I know, I miss him too," Cassie mumbled. "But_ don't tell him that_!"

"Whatever you say. Oh! Did you pick out a name yet for the baby?"

Cassie sighed and her face said it all.

"Okay how about Jessica?"

"Absolutely not. I hate that name."

Milagro sighed an unfolded a list she had in her pocket. "Avery. Alice. Bree. Callista. Celeste. Demarice-"

"Where did you come up with some of those?"

"Uhm, the internet? Any you like?"

Cassie looked through the list quickly, knowing immediately which ones she did and didn't like. "I like Alice, Samantha and Celeste."

"You've gotta pick one though!"

Cassie sighed. "This is too hard."

"Go with your gut and try to narrow it down." Milagro advised.

"I like them all. But since I have to choose.. I guess I like Samantha and Celeste the best." Cassie decided.

"Nice choice. Now you just have to choose which one is the best."

"Ugh this is so work." Cassie put her head in her hands.

"Well I guess you can decide that later." She shrugged.

"Good. Now, do you have any embarrassing stories about Jaime?"

"I thought you didn't want to talk about him."

"About our relationship. That doesn't mean I can't laugh at him." Cassie smirked.

"Well in that case. I remember this one time Jaime had to run to school in his_ boxers_..."


	6. Chapter 6

Prev 1. Chapter 1 2. Chapter 2 3. Chapter 3 4. Chapter 4 5. Chapter 5 6. Chapter 6

Cassie wasn't sure if she was making the right decision when she called Jaime bright and early the next day. Because she kind of wanted to ask him about names but she also wanted to know if he wanted to come back home.

It was a little lonely, okay?

She waited for about ten seconds before the phone was finally picked up and Jaime's voice filtered through the phone. "Hey?"

"Hi, uhm, what's up?" She asked and then sighed loudly because that was the best she had? She sounded like a tongue twisted school girl.

"Not much. Nightwing is sending me on a two week long mission. You?"

She was about to reply with good or I miss you or something along those lines when the words caught up with her. "Two weeks?! Where?"

"Tokyo, I think. Seismic shifts that aren't natural. I think it's with Conner and M'gann."

Cassie groaned because that threw a wrench in her plans.

"So why'd you call?"

Oh. Right. "Baby names. I figured even if we're separated that you should have a say in names. What do you think of Samantha? We could call her Sammy."

"Where did you get these names?"

"What do you mean?"

Jaime sighed. "I don't want our daughter stuck with mainsteam name and there's a billion other "Samantha"s in her class."

"Alright, how about Celeste?" She paused a minute. "It's not mainstream either."

"I like it but I'm not sure how we would be able to fit a middle name in."

Okay, he was right on that one. Celeste Reyes was already a bit of superhuman name. Giving her a middle name like Lynn would defeat the purpose of the first name and a name like Aphrodite would be a bit of a mouthful.

"We'll worry about the middle name later."

"I'm cool with that. Listen, I've got to go, I promised to take Milagro skateboarding - she says hello, by the way - so... love you, bye." The phone clicked and Cassie put the phone down.

She got dressed because she needed to go to the watchtower and she rubbed her belly, feeling the slight movement of the fetus- Celeste- inside of her.

Okay, she needed to talk to Bart. If he wasn't on a mission she needed to get everything sorted out. A child with the name of Celeste couldn't be that big a threat- could she? Besides, powers usually developed in the womb, like how Artemis had a three times as high metabolism when she was pregnant with Irey.

So Bart was either lying and just hated Celeste for no particular reason or he had a lot of explaining to do.

* * *

She found Bart in a few minutes after zetaing to the watchtower and threw him in a room and locked it behind them. "Start talking."

"About what exactly?"

She groaned. "Celeste."

"I'm sorry about-"

"Just explain why. Leave the apology for the end."

"Well, Celeste has incredible power for just being 1/4 Amazonian. She has power beyond belief, Wonder Woman even said she has power she hasn't seen in years." Bart explained. "But with all that power her body couldn't take it. Jaime's Blue Beetle side and your amazon side clashed within her, causing the power to grow even more and made her very sick."

"How so?"

"It wasn't pretty. She turned slightly blue, she was really thin and she had drain energy from her body every time she felt unstable. Which, as she got older varied from every week to every few hours."

"When did she start getting sick?"

"As soon as her powers started developing so about 4 or 5 years old. But it started before then when she was about 3 but we didn't notice in time to help."

Cassie's eyes started to tear up. "When did she - when did she?" She couldn't say it.

"She just turned 13 when she died. And I have never seen you or Jaime so broken."

She sniffed and regained her composure. "So why did you make that deal with Klarion?"

"Like 2 weeks after she died we found out that Klarion can absorb energy from a person or object from touching it. Unfortunately we found out too late. So this time I made sure that we made a deal with him because I wasn't gonna let Celeste live that life again."

Cassie remained silent.

"I told Jaime this and he had a tough time deciding. He wanted to protect both you and Celeste so he said yes. He felt he had no choice. The only problem was I didn't know where you were in your pregnancy I thought you'd have it with in a month."

"How could you think that I'm not even 6 months yet."

"I haven't seen you in months. Don't blame me!"

Cassie rolled her eyes. "So when she's born you're gonna take her?"

"Not exactly. Like a week after she's born we are going to meet in a distinct location, probably where the cave was, and carefully observe him that he doesn't do anything funny. Take her back and that's it meeting over."

Cassie sighed.

"I'm sorry Cassie. I was just thinking of her." Cassie hugged him.

"I forgive you."

Bart dug through his pocket. "I have a picture somewhere. They were issued after she died for like memories or whatever," He thumbed through his pictures. "S***, nevermind."

"What?"

"Can't tell you, spoilers. Way major spoilers," He said, hastily shoving the billions of pictures he had back into his jean pockets. A few of them slipped out and Cassie bent to pick them up.

Irey, Irey, Jai, Irey, Cissie, Tim and him, a boy she couldn't identify, Cissie again-

"Those are mine," Bart said, grabbing onto them and stuffing them back into his already full pocket. "Anything else you need to know?"

"Uh, yeah, did Celeste ever have any siblings or was she the only one?"

"Cassie that is like huge spoilers-"

"Bart, please," she whispered, looking at him. "I just want to know in case everything doesn't go okay and she dies."

Bart sighed, closing his eyes, "Okay, fine. She has a younger brother and sister. That's ALL I'm telling you. And no names or birthdays either!"

"Thank you," She said, ruffling his hair.

When Cassie got home for the evening she flipped through various books. She couldn't imagine a power that would scare Diana. Maybe she couldn't control her strength and Bart was just blowing this all out of proportion? But then that bit about draining her excess energy- and turning blue?

Would her siblings be okay? Or would they inherit all of one type of gene unlike Celeste?

Cassie closed her eyes and went to bed.

The sound of ringing woke Cassie from her sleep. She reached over, grabbed her phone with out looking and answered it.

"Hello?"

"Cassie." A sleepy voice said.

"Hey Jaime." She sat up as much as she could in bed.

"Bart told me you guys talked." Jaime said.

"We did. He explained a lot and I understand why you did it. And I'm not completely angry anymore."

"Thank you for understanding. So.. does this mean-?" Cassie cut him off.

"I have one question. Why didn't you tell me? Why didn't you let me know what was happening?" She said, get voice raising.

"Technically, that was two questions."

"Jaime." She growled.

"I don't know. I didn't want you to worry, especially with your mood swings." Cassie went to speak but Jaime continued. "And don't tell me you don't have them because you are a terrifying monster."

Cassie smiled softly.

"I guess with the rush of being a dad, I thought it was my job to protect both you and the baby... I was trying to show you I can be a good dad."

"Celeste. I named her Celeste." Cassie said.

"Awesome. I think Bart knew that- he kept almost telling me the other day," Jaime said, and Cassie stretched, listening to his gentle, rolling voice.

"Bart told me we have two more children," She said.

"Did he tell you the genders?" He asked, laughing.

"Celeste, then a boy, then girl."

Jaime gave a contented laugh. "I wonder what they'll be like."

"Yeah..." She whispered and the next thing she knows is that they're both saying 'I miss you'.

"Cass?"

She hums softly into the phone to let him know he can continue. "Can I come back home?"

She actually giggles a little. "Of course, you big dork. The bed is really lonely without you anyways."

"Thanks."

"I miss you, Jaime." Cassie said gently.

"I miss you, too." She started to yawn. "So you're not mad anymore?"

"No. I can't let this one thing ruin us after almost 10 years of being together."

"I'm glad. Now go to sleep, I'll be there when you get up."

"No way. I want to see you as soon as you walk in."

"Why so you can tackle me?" Jaime smirked.

"Exactly." She yawned again.

"I love you, Bonita." Cassie grinned.

"It's feels so good to here you say that again." Cassie sighed. "And I love you, Handsome. Ow."

"What?!"

"Celeste won't stop kicking. I guess she really misses her dad."

Jaime's smile grew larger, if possible. "I'll be home to my girls soon."


	7. Chapter 7

Ch. 7

**Okay, so let me explain what happened with this story. Threaded Needles decided to stop writing for a while, so we transferred the story from her page to mine so it could continue to update. **

**And let me say this now, You don't like Wonderbeetle, don't read this story. I don't want people criticizing me in reviews because guess what, I don't care what you think. Me and a lot of other people like it and there's nothing you can do to change that. Deal with it. I will _NOT_ tolerate it.**

**Enjoy!**

* * *

When Cassie woke up she had to remind herself several times she was getting up to see Jaime because all she wanted to do was lay in the comfortable bed. She checked the time. Jaime probably was already awake because he was an annoying early bird like that.

The sound of the door opening and closing made her jump right out of the bed and yank the door open. Jaime was standing there, grinning and she wrapped her arms around him in a tight hug quickly. He hugged her back and she could feel the light thud of Celeste kicking.

"It feels good to be back," He whispered against her head.

She wastes no time pressing their mouths together in an awkward kiss. Jaime groaned, pressing against her to deepen the kiss, moving them backwards onto the bed.

* * *

Jaime brushed the pad of his thumb against her knuckles, while she leaned peacefully against his chest. Celeste kicked but when he brushed his hand against Cassie's stomach, whispering words in Spanish to her.

"Thought of any good middle names yet?" Cassie asked, looking up at him to kiss him.

"How about... Marie. Celeste Marie Reyes."

She hugged him. "That's a great name. I love it."

"Good. I've been thinking about it for a while. I wasn't sure if you'd like it." He admitted. They were quiet for a moment before an idea popped into Cassie's head.

"Um," Cassie started. "Can I ask you something?"

"Anything."

"If it weren't for the Scarab, would you still have powers?" Jaime sat up and thought for a moment.

"No. I was regular non-meta human like most of world. Even now, with the Scarab, I'm still human. Just with stronger capabilities." He explained.

"What if you were some how separated from it, would you still have those capabilities?"

[Even if we were to separate, you would still have strength, endurance and durability. A reminder of our power, Jaime Reyes.] The Scarab confirmed.

Cassie stared at Jaime as he listened to the Scarab. She always knew when he was, he'd look back as if he were trying to see the Scarab on his back.

"So?" She asked when he looked back at her.

"Assuming I survived somehow, I'd still have durability, strength and endurance. Why?"

"That doesn't sense." She put an arm behind her head and rubbed her stomach with other as she thought of something. "I'm thinking of what Bart said when explained what to Celeste."

"What about it?"

"He said my powers and your powers clashed when we had Celeste, which caused her to be sick. But you don't have major powers that would cause her to get so sick."

Jaime looked at her. "So what are you thinking?"

"I'm thinking Bart tricked us." Cassie concluded.

* * *

"What? Why?" Jaime asked, obviously confused. "I mean, what could he even gain from that deal?"

"I don't know! All I know is he's lying!" She crossed her arms in an angry huff.

"Maybe he's just stretching the truth?" He tried, grabbing onto his cell to text Bart. Even if Bart wasn't telling the full truth he needed to know why.

Cassie suddenly moved her hand to her stomach, massaging a spot. "What if he hurts her?"

"Are you okay?" He asked, and even though she nodded he had to wonder. When she removed her hand, a bright blue bruise was stained against her skin. "Cassie!"

She bit her lip and he watched the imprint of a babies foot appear against her stomach.

"Celeste, que está perjudicando mamá," He whispered, and slowly the kicks stopped.

"How did you-"

His phone buzzed and he looked at it. "He said he wasn't lying and that you're insane."

She yanked the phone out of his hands, typing back a reply.

* * *

She gave it back to him within a minute. "What did you send?"

"I sent 'You're a liar. You're supposed to be helping us not using us.'"

"How did you did you type so fast? Wait, no. Oh, I can already tell this isn't gonna be good."

"That brat is getting what's coming to him! He's from the future he's supposed to help us not make it crappy! What has he done to help us?"

"He saved Flash's life, letting him know the lives of his children. He saved me from the Reach. And he helped end The Reach invasion. Pick one any of those that sound good to you!" He yelled.

"Don't yell at me! I'm trying to prove a point! And yeah he saved Flash, only to get Wally sucked into the Speed Force! And I know this will sound bad but at least Flash and his wife had a life together. Wally and Artemis hadn't even finished college yet, they were just starting their life when Bart had him almost killed. So it still ended badly."

Jaime crossed his arms.

"And he saved you, I will give him that but we would have ended up together anyway." She tapped her stomach. "Obviously. And he helped with the end of the Reach, okay. So what would have to gain off of our misfortune."

"That's what I'm saying. Nothing! He doesn't want anything!" He walked out of the room, Cassie tried to catch up to him.

"Think Jaime! How could she get sick?"

"She could inherit my powers!"

"Your Scarab is not hereditary! If she flies it's because of me! If she has super strength it's because of me! Your abilities won't affect her so much that she turns blue!"

Jaime glared at her.

"Bart is lying to you!"

* * *

Jaime finally threw his hands up in defeat. "Okay, fine. Let's say he is lying. Why?"

Cassie's shoulders slumped in defeat. "I don't know. It at least made a little sense if she was sick but if he just wants to outright kill her I have no idea why he'd want to do that."

"Well, he hated The Reach in the future, right?" He asked.

"Yeah?"

"Then that's probably why he hates her. This is all hypothetical but if they made me have kids they'd probably use them like soldiers-"

"-And Celeste was probably one too! Maybe he thinks that she's going to turn out the exact same way she did in the future."

Jaime nodded, checking the buzzing phone in his hands, "He said he's not using us, he's just trying to help."

"Tell him the deal is off and to stay away from our daughter," Cassie said, hands lightly touching her belly.

Jaime conveyed the message, hoping Bart wouldn't be too angry with him.

* * *

"No!" Bart yelped as he read the message over. "No. No. No. This deal has to happen!" He tried to call Jaime, but it went to straight to voice mail. "Ugh, Dammit!"

"What are you yelling about?" Wally complained as he walked in. He yawned, as it was 8 in the morning. "Do you want to wake the kids? You don't want to deal with them this early in the morning." He scolded.

"Sorry Wally."

"Why were yelling in the first place?"

"Something with Jaime." He said.

"Don't take this the wrong way but-"

"If you say, something with crushes, being gay or being in love with Jaime, I will vibrate you half way through the wall and leave you stuck there." Bart threatened.

"Okay, calm down. And I thought Artemis was a monster in the morning."

"What was that?" A voice called from down the hall.

"You're beautiful in the morning!" Wally lied and Bart shook his head. Artemis appeared in the doorway and rolled her eyes.

"Breakfast is ready, pigs." She said as Wally dashed by her and almost fell trying to get to the kitchen. This time both Artemis and Bart rolled their eyes.

As Artemis went to leave the room, Bart grabbed her arm. "Have you talked to Cassie lately?"

"Haven't seen her in a few days. Why?"

"Next time you see her, tell her to keep her month shut, I'm doing what's best for everyone." He said through his teeth.

"O-okay." She walked out with an eyebrow raised. Bart stood there for a moments longer before walking out to join them for breakfast.

* * *

In the dining room, Irey was eating several waffles and drinking a cup of orange juice. She barely looked up as her younger brother came in, grumbling and looking for some food.

Bart and Jai were both given generous helpings of everything, though Jai got juice instead of coffee.

"So, Bart, what's going on?" Wally asked, stuffing a piece of sausage into his mouth. Artemis sat down next to him to correct his table manners.

"Uh, Wally, you're kinda going to have to be more specific," Bart said, folding a waffle in half and eating it. Jai frowned in obvious disgust.

"Life in general. The fact that you've been texting Jaime since seven-ish. You do know he's engaged, right?"

Bart choked on his food, "Why does everyone think I'm gay?"

Artemis and Wally exchanged an uneasy glance. "You're not?"

"No! Gosh, I'm with Cissie! I'm just texting him!"

"About what?" Irey asked, tipping the syrup bottle back into her mouth until Artemis took it away from her. Jai gaped at his twin sister for her audacity.

"Nothing- I just. Okay, fine, I'm trying to talk Jaime into letting me be the godfather," Bart lied, reaching for another sausage.

"Alright, well maybe you should just run yourself over there instead of screaming at your phone for the rest of the day," Wally suggested.

"I don't think that will work." Bart replied.

"And why would that be?" Irey said. She had gotten hold of the syrup again and started drowning her bacon in it.

"Cassie is.." Bart stopped. 'How should I word this?' He thought.

"Cassie is.." Artemis repeated.

"I'm worried about Cassie. She's saying things that aren't true. Like how I'm trying to steal her daughter. What would I need with her daughter?"

"You mean besides giving her to Klarion." Artemis countered. She gave Bart a look as she ate her waffles.

"What?" Wally said. "When is this going to happen?"

"Wow, I'm tired of explaining this. The baby gets really sick, and only klarion can absorb the extra energy."

"If it saves it, why is she complaining?" Jai asked through his mouthful of bacon.

"Like I said she's not well. I don't know why. But if she says anything about me is not true. So don't believe it." Bart said.

"Okay.." Artemis and Wally said, looking at each other with odd looks.

* * *

After breakfast, Jai and Irey got bathed and dressed and Wally took them out to the park a few blocks away. Artemis zeta-ed to the watchtower so she could do her part in a mission that was assigned to her. Which left Bart to do whatever he wanted in the house.

He turned off the TV, locked the doors and after a few minutes, called Jaime. It took a few minutes (probably because of the actual distance between them) until he finally picked up. "Bart?"

"Jaime, listen to me, seriously, I'm trying to help you guys-"

Jaime laughed, and Bart felt his heart sink a little. Spreading a few lies around wasn't going to work anymore. "Sorry Bart, but we figured out your little game. How about you just tell the truth? Why do you hate Celeste so much?"

"I'm not lying!"

The line fell silent for several minutes, as if the were both waiting for the other to make a move.

"Fine, I'm lying, okay? She was born with asthma, not that you'd care, you were too busy being the dictator of the universe. She was such a horrible person. Daddy issues up the freaking wazoo and she could only cope with it if she was smashing heads together and throwing people into jail cells. Do you know how many people died just because of her being such a little psycho? And it wasn't just the daddy issues after a certain point. She liked it- she loved the blood and the gore, and she's going to turn out the exact same way," Bart spat out, turning the phone off as soon as he was done.


	8. Chapter 8

Ch. 8

Jaime stood in his living room in complete silence.

[Jaime Reyes, why do you refuse to speak when you are clearly filled with anger?]

"Because I've never been so confused at who I should be angry at!"

"Why would you be angry at all?" Cassie walked in trying to carry a basket full of clothes over her enlarged belly. "This is getting hard."

"Bart!" He shouted. "Now my daughter is a criminal! I thought she was sick!"

"What the hell are you taking about?" Cassie stared at him.

"Celeste. She doesn't get sick. At least not a deadly as we were told. She was bad and apparently I didn't care."

"What?!" Cassie dropped the basket.

"He lied about her. All she had was asthma!" Jaime made fists with his hands. "He nearly ruined our relationship. And we're supposed to trust him?"

"What is his problem?"

"I don't know but I'm tired of his shit!" Jaime scowled. "Either he tells us the truth or I'll make him tell me!"

Cassie stared at him with an impressed expression on her face.

"I know this is an intense movement but you are so attractive right now." Cassie gushed which made Jaime smirk.

"Thanks. But we do need to worry about Bart. I'm afraid he'll actually try to take Celeste." Jaime said, beginning to fold some shirts from the laundry basket.

Cassie's eyes flickered towards him, biting her lip. "Well, he'd be against a demi-goddess and blue beetle."

"I guess," He mumbled, aggressively folding the wash clothes. Cassie didn't know someone could actually make folding laundry hot. She wanted to blame it on hormones... but then again, Jaime had always looked really good-

"Cass? You paying attention?"

"Huh? Yeah! Something about Celeste?" She tried not to think about how his jeans hung to hips just low enough that she could see his naval when his shirt rode up.

"I asked you what you wanted for dinner."

"Oh. Uhm. Sticky rice. I'm craving it all the sudden." She needed to focus on something else... something besides Jaime and his too good-looking body.

"You sure? You look... distracted," He said, and Cassie straightened up, grabbing onto some towels to fold.

"Yup! Just thinking about... stuff."

"Okay, well what else would you like?" Jaime stretched his shirt riding up with his arms. Cassie blushed and almost dropped the towel she was trying to fold when she stared at his abs that his shirt revealed. "Cass?"

"What?" She smiled at his abs. "You were saying.."

"What else would you like?" He smiled at her.

"Oh, um, platanos?" She tried to stop thinking about his well tone abs.

"Your Spanish is improving. You have learned." He took off his shirt and threw it in the now empty laundry basket.

'You're killing me Jaime.' She rolled her eyes. Then she realized he was talking to her. "What?"

"I said I'm going to take a shower. What are you thinking about?"

"Nothing." She rushed.

Jaime smirked at how flushed she was. Instantly knowing exactly what she was thinking about. He laughed and ran a hand through his hair.

"Would you like to, I don't know," he started to flex. Cassie sighed. "join me?"

"Yes please!" She pushed him into the bathroom, both laughing along the way.

* * *

After their "shower", Jaime started on cooking while Cassie boredly flipped through books, lying down on the couch. Jaime was humming some spanish tune so she had turned off the DreamWorks movie that had been playing on the TV.

"Do you think I should breastfeed Celeste?" Cassie asked thoughtfully, trying to pay attention to the words on the book. "I know it's better for the baby but, well, anyone could feed her if we did formula."

"Formula costs a lot of money, Cass," Jaime said, preparing her plate of rice and bananas. "And you could always pump if you're worried about not being able to be there to feed her."

"Yeah, okay." She took the plate from him without another word.

"And Cassie, thanks for getting my mind off.. you know who."

She smiled at him. "No problem."

"What do you think she'll look like?" Jaime asked, cutting apart his banana to mix in with his sticky rice. He thought she was weird with cravings, he liked to eat that just because.

Cassie tilted backwards against the back of the couch, biting into her banana. "Like you, maybe a little bit lighter skin, blue eyes." Cassie closed her eyes, already imagining the tiny baby. "I don't think she'll inherit all my powers, but she'll still be a really awesome superhero. Maybe Connor could train her."

"Oh, I'm sure he'd love that," Jaime said sarcastically, and Cassie ignored him.

"And then our little boy will look just like you. Like a carbon copy, except he'll inherit all my powers and be a big sweetheart and lovable puppy like you."

Jaime took a bite of his rice-banana mixture. One kid with super strength would be hard enough to parent- but two? "Please tell me the last one just turns out to be a normal person like me."

Cassie nodded. "But she gets to look like me. Maybe your eyes. But she'll be into like pyrotechnics or something. I dunno, I haven't decided yet."

Jaime squeezed his eyes shut and gave a quick prayer that it wasn't the case.

"Why what's wrong with that?"

"Oh, nothing. Just that," He rubbed the back of his neck. "Having this kid was a shock. Now, thinking about more than this one, it's kind of shocking."

"I think I know what you mean. Not to mention the spoilers of how many kids we have. I understand."

"I really hope I'm a great dad this time around." Jaime whispered.

Cassie looked at him. "Why do you say that?"

"Bart said that because of my neglect, Celeste turned out the way she was. I want to make sure I'm there for my kids. I don't ever want any of them of them to feel like I don't care about them." Jaime ranted. Cassie walked up to him, sat on his lap and hugged him.

"It's because of that, that none of our kids will ever feel neglected. You're gonna be a great dad." She kissed his cheek. Jaime felt the slight tapping on his hand that rested on Cassie's stomach.

"See, even Celeste agrees with me." Jaime smiled.

"Yeah, I guess everything will be okay," Jaime said, closing his eyes. He'd have to specifically set aside time to spend time with his children, he decided.

"Of course it will! Also, Cissie and Artemis are throwing me a baby shower in a couple of weeks."

"A baby shower?" He asked. Wasn't that where family and friends gave you free things for the baby?

"Uh huh, and my Mom is coming too, can your mami make it?"

Shoot. He should've known this would come up.

[You couldn't lie to your mate forever, Jaime], The Scarab reminded him dully and he scowled.

"I, uh, haven't told my parents we're having a baby yet. I'm afraid they won't take it well since we're not... married."

"So you were going to wait until we were married to mention the fact that we have a daughter?" She asked curiously.

"Yeah... but if it means that much to you to have my mom there I'll go call her and tell her."

Cassie smiled and rested her head on his shoulder. "You're the best."

"Yeah, the best." He repeated weakly.

* * *

After dinner, Cassie decided to wash the dishes. Jaime took this as an opportunity to be alone when he dialed his mother's number.

"Hola Niño." His mother greeted him over the phone.

"Hi Mami." Jaime rubbed the back of his head.

"Oh Jaime, how did things work out with Cassie? Is she still mad?"

"No. No, things are fine now. Thank you for letting me stay a while."

"You know you always welcome back home, niño." His mother said cheerfully.

'Not for much longer.' He thought.

"I wonder why she got so upset anyway? It couldn't have been that serious."

"Well, It was just one of those couple fights." He laughed nervously. "Speaking of Cassie, I-"

"Hey, son!" He heard his father shout over the phone.

'Great, dad's here too.' He thought. "Hey dad! Listen I have something to tell you guys."

"I forgot to mention that Milagro told us all about Cassie. It's nice to know my son a good girl to take care of him."

"Mami-" Jaime was interrupted again.

"It's very nice! Just think someday they'll be married and start having children. Jaime is finally settling down."

"Guys-" Jaime tried but his parents continued to rant.

"Calm down, they're not even married yet. Marriage comes before child-"

"I got Cassie pregnant!" Jaime shouted. So loud Cassie looked in his direction before going back to the dishes. His parents were quiet for a long time before they think of something to say.

"Cassie's... pregnant?" His mom asked, as if testing to make sure she heard right. When he doesn't say that she's wrong, she tells his Dad in a tiny whisper.

"You're gonna take care of that baby?" His dad asks gruffly.

"Yessir."

"And Cassie?"

"Yes."

"Good," His Dad says. "When's the baby due?"

"Mid-July, I think. It's a little niña, by the way."

"It is?! What are you naming her?" His mom said, yanking the phone away from his dad.

"Celeste Marie Reyes," He says, and he wonders how his parents went from being so anti-baby outside of wedlock to totally cool with this.

"Why are you acting like this? I thought you were strictly against sex before marriage." Jaime asked.

"We are. But we love you, Jaime. So I guess I will go to Cassie's baby shower."

"Gracias, Momi! Just thank you so much. Cassie will love this." Jaime got excited.

"Your welcome, Jaime. It will be nice to finally meet my future daughter-in-law."

"Speaking of which, Cassie and I are getting married next month! We'll send you the invites, Hasta Luego! Bye!" Jaime hurried and hung up the phone. He knew they'd need a clearer explanation but that can wait for another day.

Jaime looked up and saw his wife leaning against the doorway with a smirk her face.

"The things I do for you." He sent a smirk back at her.

"I love you too." She shot back.

"Aw, c'mon, she's coming to your baby shower thing," He said, stuffing his phone into his jeans. "Which reminds me, what day is that going to be?"

"They said it was gonna be a surprise!"

"Of course they did," He mumbled.

* * *

"It's next Thursday, and you're not allowed to come," Cissie deadpanned, moving aside pink streamers and plates she had bought for the shower.

"What? Why not?"

"Well, no boys allowed. Unless you like hearing us all talk about our sex lives and pigging out on cake and swapping make-up tips-"

"I get the picture," Jaime mumbled. Was that what girls really did behind the scenes?

"Good. You can hang out with the guys. Bart's been kinda mopey lately, it's getting on my nerves."

Jaime shuddered at the thought of staying around Bart for more than a couple of seconds. He'd rather hang out with Tye or Conner. "I'll figure out something."

"Awesome. Now, what type of cake does Cassie like? I don't wanna mess this up."


End file.
